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COLMESNEIL – Colmesneil ISD Board of Trustees held a special called meeting last Wednesday to discuss and consider three items.
The items up for discussion were: the final budget amendment for the 2022-2023 school year, the setting of the tax rate for the 2023-2024 school year, and the budget for the 2023-2024 school year. CISD business manager Wanda Ryan was available to answer any and all questions from the board.
Board president Kris Lindsey inquired about expenditures from the last year. Ryan said, “we did not over-spend this year, and I anticipate for us to be able to put some (money) back in the fund balance”.
About setting the tax rate Ryan explained, “I know it looks sad to see that number, we are in the third year of the maximum compression rate the state has implemented. There is this formula between the district and the tax offices to determine what our tax rate will be, so it’s gone down each year with the compression rate. The state has assured us that we are going to recoup any offset from lowering the tax rate. Last year, we collected more than we anticipated, and I am hopeful that hopeful that this year will be the same. We collected more from the foundation money also”.
At this point, Lindsey asked her about the money in the fund balance and she said,” at the time I sent this in, we received one more foundation payment, and since then we have received $500K from the state.
Twice a year, we transfer money from the general fund over to the I & S fund and make our loan payment (on the last bond). Our I&S is so low due to the fact that we passed the tax ratification election, so we no longer collect taxes through our interest, everything goes into our 199 which allows us to spend that money rather than have it just sitting in the bank.”
Lindsey then went on to ask, “Is there any benefit, since we have a little money in those accounts to go ahead and pay off the (current) bond?” Ryan said, “I don’t know that it would hurt to do that, and I don’t know if it would help, with some of the changes that we’ve made through our compression rate and what have you, the state follows through with what they are going to do for us”.
Lindsey then said, “I’m just thinking long term, down the road if we didn’t have that debt hanging over our head, if push comes to shove.” Ryan added, “It would be hard for us to get everyone on board with a new bond while we are still paying off the current one. You can’t tear down and rebuild any facility with what we have in our fund balance, you’re talking construction, rebuilding, and adding on, that’s big money. If we really are considering asking for another bond, it would be smart to have the current one gone.”
Moving on to the last item for discussion, Ryan gave a summary of the current budget for 2023-24.
“We did increase the budget, due to across the board raises, general facility care and food costs. The cost of everything has gone up, and we adjusted some items within the budget so that we didn’t have to go too terribly high, so the increase is pretty much cost of living increases”. The budget increase was in the $280-290K range, and Ryan stressed that they are still being conservative, even with the rate.
All three agenda items were approved by the board after the lengthy discussion about the district’s finances, which overall, are in good shape going into a new school year.
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